Playoff implications abound in MLS this week

It’s finally getting down to the wire — it’s been a slog of a season at times, if we’re being totally honest — and Real Salt Lake is nearing the end of the regular season. While we’re not assured a playoff spot, it’s likely we’ll earn one unless we fall on our face in the final three matches of the season.

There are some big matches tonight. Ryan Sanders brought you RSL’s side of the equation with his match preview today, so check that out. We’ll focus here on everything else going on in Major League Soccer tonight.

6 p.m.: Minnesota United vs. Sporting Kansas City

What tangled webs we weave. I’m now the biggest Sporting Kansas City supporter around. Up the City. (Is that what you say? I’m bad at this.)

If SKC manages a draw or victory, we’ll have a chance to move ahead of Minnesota United, provided our match goes as planned.

7:30 p.m.: Our match!

YEAH

9 p.m.: San Jose Earthquakes vs. Philadelphia Union

We’re going to want Philadelphia Union to pull one out here. San Jose’s hot on our tail, and if things don’t go well for us and do go well for those folks, we’ll be in a heap of trouble.

Best case

RSL could land in second place, ahead of Seattle Sounders on tiebreakers. We just need a win tonight and a Sporting Kansas City victory. I found this video from the future on the internet.

Worst case

If things don’t go our way, there’s a chance we end up in sixth place in the West. That would take a San Jose victory of (RSLGoalDifferenceVsLAG + 4) goals. So let’s not let it come to that, alright? Alright.

Medium case

Things stay the same.

Beyond Tonight

I wrote a while ago about the big matches (from our context) remaining in the playoff race. We can pare that down now.

Sunday, 5:30 p.m.

• Colorado Rapids vs. FC Dallas: Come on you Rapids. Is that what they say?
• LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps: Always bled ... whatever colors the Whitecaps wear. White?
• Minnesota United vs. LAFC: Let’s see some broken MLS regular season records.
• RSL vs. Houston Dynamo: Yeah.
• San Jose Earthquakes vs. Seattle Sounders: Really depends a bit on tonight, doesn’t it? If we can gain ground, this is absolutely the result we want. If we can’t, then maybe we’d rather see Seattle here. We’ll see after tonight.
• Sporting Kansas City vs. Portland Timbers: You all know how I feel about my beloved Kansas.

The Sunday after this one, 2 p.m.

Things are vague here. We’ll revisit this after Sunday.

• FC Dallas vs. Sporting Kansas City: I ... may have accidentally put Sporting Kansas City in the playoffs. Oh well. Rematch?!
• Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy: Fun!
• Portland Timbers vs. San Jose Earthquakes: A draw here would be totally fine.
• Seattle Sounders vs. Minnesota United: Let’s see a draw here, too.
• Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Real Salt Lake: 56 points would be quite nice. It’s also what we earned in 2013. Hmm.